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2016-12-14

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In October we were invited to North Hollywood for interviews with adult performers working in the pornography industry. We wanted to know their thoughts on wearing condoms when on set. There's a whole video about that here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiipnS4aiA

This video, 'Working in Porn' is more about their take on industry, how they feel about their jobs, the perks, and downsides.

This is Cristi Ann. She identifies as an adult performer. On Wednesday, October 5th, 2016, I sat down to talk with her and her colleagues about wearing condoms to make porn and learned so much more than their thoughts on protection. Mainly, how they all feel about their jobs in the adult industry.

Amari Romani: I love my job.

Sarah Banks: I love my job.

Venus Lux: I love porn.

Siouxie Q: I love my job so much I had to make a podcast and write a book about it and write about it every week. I love the adult industry.

Dr. Doe: So often when people talk or think about porn, there are these ideas that people wouldn't do it if they didn't have to. That they're just doing it to survive, maintain an addiction, get attention, that they're being forced into it by an abusive partner and that it's not really a choice. There's very little out there about how much job satisfaction adult performers experience. How much there is to love about the work.

Dr. Doe: What do you love about your job?

Alec Knight: Mostly - well, the ladies are beautiful, that's good, but modestly, really, I like the free time, I like being able to control my life. I've met a lot of great people, and people I actually consider almost family now. So it's very important to me.

Cristi Ann: I love the liberation, honestly. Like you know, the freedom of being my own boss. The financial freedom of it. Like, okay, I did this by myself, for myself.

Skyler Nicole: I love porn. I love webcamming. I just like the industry. It makes me feel like I can be myself.

Dr: Doe: How do you feel about your job?

Alexa Raye: Oh I love it.

Dr. Doe: What do you like about it?

Alexa Raye: Um...

Dr. Doe: Or love about it?

Alexa Raye: Besides the sex? I dunno, I really like to get my makeup done, and travel like different states. Like it's really fun to do that.

Venus Lux: We're all in this together. What we call porn, it's nice to have a sense of family. Because you can't really talk to your family. You know, they're like "Oh yeah I just got fisted yesterday and it was amazing, you know?"

Dr. Doe: So cool and beautiful co-workers, great sex, flexible hours, and lots of personal time. Financial freedom, pampering, travel and a sense of family.

Amari Romani: I love being able to do the things that I've always wanted to do in a safe and controlled environment. And it was actually gang-bangs that made me get into the porn industry.

Dr. Doe: You were like "I wanna gang bang, tell me where the porn is."

Amari Romani: I wanted to be safe. Yeah.

Dr. Doe: We're talking about how many penises in a set? Scene?

Amari Romani: I've only had 5 at the most.

Dr. Doe: 5 at the most

Amari Romani: But I would love - I would like more.

Dr. Doe: Yeah?

Sarah Banks: There are so many dicks. So many dicks. Like got the octopus thing going - dicks everywhere.

Dr. Doe: Really?

Sarah Banks: Yeah, it's great!

Dr. Doe: It's rare for me to hear person after person go on and on about how much they love their job.

Amari Romani: I love my job. I try to give a hundred percent - a hundred and ten percent in each scene.

Sarah Banks: I would do almost anything for my job. I would say that.

Dr. Doe: You would do anything for your job because you love it so much?

Sarah Banks: That, and the people in it, too.

Dr. Doe: After listening for a while about all the joys of working in the adult industry, I finally said what I was thinking.

Dr. Doe: What would it take for me to be a porn star. Can I?

Sarah Banks. Yes. You would be like... teen category. I can see it in my head.

Dr. Doe: Teen? like what does that mean? Like I look like a teen?

Sarah Banks. I could put little pigtails in your hair and give you like a cute little baby top and some little booty shorts and it would be adorable. *laughing*

Dr: Doe: Even though I'm 34?

Sarah Banks: Oh shit, you're 34? *laughter*

Dr. Doe: It was fun to toss around the idea of being on set, but I don't think I'll make the switch. Ultimately, it's a job, and there are downsides.

Alexa Raye: It's fun, but there comes a day when you're like "Aw, I do have wake up for work in the morning." Like it's just like a regular job. You do get tired. You're like "Oh my god, I don't want to work, I want to sleep in."

Skyler Nicole: being a woman of color in the porn industry is very hard. I've been in the industry for three years and I will say that I have less videos or, you know, credibility, than someone who was white and blonde. It has made me feel insecure about myself. There have been times when I feel like "man, I should just quit" but then there's this like "well I have this opportunity. I want to make something of it."

Dr. Doe: The hardships of working in the adult industry are really the hardships of working in general. Sometimes you're underappreciated, you get tired and it's annoying. Siouxie Q and I also talked about the violence.

Siouxie Q: December 17th is the day to end violence against sex workers. It happens every year and I always go to an event and I always end up writing about it because I write about the sex industry, and it's always hard. I always have to, you know, look at the names, and there's dozens of them - sometimes hundreds - of people who have been murdered for being sex workers.

Dr. Doe: Here's the list of victims for 2016. There's another two dozen whose names we don't know. I have to believe that many of these people were happy to do their jobs. That some of them even sought out sex work and porn to fulfill their dreams. It may not be an industry that everyone understands, but I think that loving one's work is an ambition we might all be able to relate to.

Stay Curious.

I want to give my warmest thanks to everyone who joined us in making this video and taught us about what they love. Thank you.